Apparatus for preparing fruit for canning.



825,667. PATENTED JULY 10, 1906.

W. J. LATGHPORD. APPARATUS FOR PREPARING FRUIT FOR OANNING.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 30, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

uuuuuuuuuuuuuLH- N Mm m No. 825,667. PATENTED JULY 10, 1906.

W. J. LATGHFORD.

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING FRUIT FOR CANNING. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. 1905.

8 SHEETSSHBET 2 77%57265565; ZZU67Z07, M 75 mm I. MW A No. 825,667. PATBNTED JULY 10, 1906.

W. J. LATCHFORD.

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING FRUIT FOR GANNING. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. 1905.

s SHEBTSSHEET a.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. LATOHFORD; OF VAN WERT, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I THIRD TO CORA M. LATGHFORD, OF VAN WERT, OHIO, ONE-THIRD .TO THOMAS GAHAN, AND ONE-THIRD TO MICHAEL J. DOHERTY,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

,, Patented July 10, 1906.

Application filed Jan ary 30,1905- Serial No. 243,210-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J LATCH- 'FORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Van WVert, in the county of VanWert and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Preparing Fruit for Canning, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for handling fruit in preparing it for canning, as by trimming, coring, and skinning, in which the fruit shall be handled by the operators only to the minimum amount necessary for performing the processes upon it, and in which the time of the operators lost or consumed in mere passing of the fruit from point to point shall be reduced to minimum, and in which especially a large number of operators may Work in as small a place as possible and with the least embarrassment possible by reason of the necessity of disposing of the refuse and han- 4 dling and measuring thefruit.

It consists in the features of construction of the a paratus in the 'cl aims. L

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one unit or complete element of the entire apparatus of which a plurality are de-' signed to be associated together in complete operation, said figure being broken in two parts arranged side by side on Sheet 1 in order to show the apparatus in proper proportion and on'suflicient scale Fig. 2 is a plan of a portion of the machine seen in Fig. 1, comprisinithe latter'or delivery half thereof with the s inning-stands. Fig. 3 is a section at the line 3 3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4'is a section at the line 4 4 on Fig. 1.

In mycomplete apparatus it is designed to arrange side by side with intervals for-the operators a plurality of machines or; appa-' ratuses, such as are shown in Fig. 1, and to.

extend transversely with respect to them all conveyers which shall receive the fin ished fruit and the refuse from each and all of them and convey it to proper destination.

It is only necessary to show and describe one complete apparatus for handlin and con-.

veymg the fruit and refuse to t ese transverse conveyors, Each such apparatus comherein described, as set out to the position for the subsequent hand process or processes. The a paratus illustrated is primarily designe for handling tomatoes, and the first process to be performed thereon requiring the iruit to be handled by an operator is that which is technicallyknown as coring, but which might be more generally described as trimming the fruit, this process in respect to tomatoes consisting in cutting out from the stem end the rudiment of the stem and surrounding portion of the skin. This particular process in respect to tomatoes may stand for and represent any trimming process which might be necessary in respect to any fruit prior to such subsequent process or processes as might be performed upon it in preparing it for canning. The frame in which the conveyer 1 and its driving and carrying ulleys 2 and 3 is inounted supports at tie receiving end the several parts or elements of what may be termed the trimming-stand, which .in the case of an apparatus designed for tomatoes comprises a table 4, which preferably extends across the upper or carrying ply of the conveyer 1 above the same, leaving abundant room under it for fruit which may be lodgedupon the conveyer at the incoming side. Uponthis table there are mounted the .core'rs or trimmers 6 6. These devices are merely'repre- .sentative of any coring or trimming device which may be required for the fruit to be treated. For understanding the drawings, however, it may be described as consisting of a knife 6, mounted for rotation abou't'an axis in which the terminal oint of the knife.

stands, the knife being de ected aside from its axis back of the terminal point, so as to cut a conical hole as it revolves, an annular guard 6? with a central aperture large enough to accommodate the most deflecte point of the knife being a spring 6, adapting it to'yield back as the fruit is pressed against it for advancing onto the corer. This coring device is shown and claimed in my application, Serial No. 251 ,952,

mounted by means of thej guide-stem 6 in the bearings of the knifeshaft and being-held at guarded position by if filed March 25, 1905, and no claims for the same are made herein. It is designed that two operators shall occupy the trimmingstand at each side of the carrier, and two corers are therefore shown at each side. The four operators handling the fruit which may be placed on the table within their reach drop it after coring on, the conveyer 1,

two at one side and two at the other side of the table 4. The trimming-stand com' The upper or carrying ply of the conveyer 1 carries the fruit through the steaming and,

,washing chamber 8. The details of this chamber need not be illustrated or described beyond the statement that it is provided with steam-pipes (represented at 9 9) and waterpipes, (represented at 10,) bywhich the fruit is exposed to steam or water, either or both, as

the case may require, during its passage on the conveyer through this steaming box,

which maybe of any necessary length to:

cause the fruit to remain exposed to either the steam or the water, or both, a suitable length of time to efiect the cleansing and loosen-ing of the skin, and this time and the consequent length of the box relative to the 1 speed of the conveyer may be varied according to the character of thefruit for which the particular apparatus is constructed. Along both sides of the conveyerbeyo'nd the steamer 8 there are located a plurality of skinningstandsthat is to say, groups of devices or conveniences for skinning or performing the "next necessary operation by hand upon the fruit and disposing of the cleaned fruit and refuse. Each of these skinning-stands,as illustrated, comprises three distinct elements a fruit receiver or tablet, a fruit-hopper or measuring-receptacle, and a refuse-hopper; The fruit tablet or receiver 11 is situated relatively to the carrying-ply ofthe conveyer 1 sothat' the operator can readily draw the fruit off from the conveyer into or onto such tablet or receiver. Thefruit-hopper ormeasuring-receptacle 12 is adjacent to the fruit receiver or tablet 11 and isdesigned to -re ceive the cleaned fruit. Asindicatecl, this ,hopper is designed both to conduct the cleaned fruit to a conveyer, hereinafter mentioned, and also to serve as a measuring device, so that the amount of fruit cleaned by such operator maybe noted without delay and'proper credit given when the work is done by the piece. In order to serve both these purposes, it is preferably constructed as shown, consisting'of an inverted frustoconical hopper, mounted fixedly upon a tablet 13, which has a round opening 14 conformed to the smaller end of the hopper and closed by a slide 15, operating on the under side of the tablet, which slide can be drawn from the forward end to discharge the contents of the fruit-hopper or measuringreceptaczle upon the fruit-conveyer, hereinafter mentioned. Preferably, the fruit-receivers 11 and the fruit-hoppers or measuring-receptacles 12 alternate with each other alongside the conveyer 1, and any desired number of skinning-stands comprising these elements may be situated in succession alongside the fruit-conveyer, the-number in service at any time being made to correspond to the capacity or output of the trimming-stand. The refuse-hopper 16 for each stand is preferably mounted at the opposite side of the receiver 11 from the conveyer 1, so that the operator. may wipe the refuse off from the receiver into the hopper by movement of the hand in the same direction asthat which is made to draw the fruit from the conveyer to the reerator, while the left hand will be used to pass the cleaned fruitinto the fruit-hopper 1,2, which is situated at the left hand of thereceiver in each stand. An endless conveyer 17, mounted on suitable driving and carrying pulleys, has its upper ply traveling under the discharge-mouths of all the fruit-hoppers 12, so that it may, receive from them allthe fruit dumped from the hoppers upon the withdrawal of the slide 15 and conduct it to k the discharge end of'said conveyer 17,where 4 it is delivered over the idle pulley 17 onto a transverse conveyer consistin of an endless carrying-belt 18, which trave s transversely with respect to and pastall the apparatuses like that shown in Fig. 1, which may together make up the complete system. This transverse conveyer is shown broken at both sides of the'single apparatus shown, indicating its indefinite extent to its driving and carrying pulleys, which are notshown. For compactness of the apparatus, however, it may be notic'ed that the wheels 3 3, which carry the conveyer 1, are of such size that the lower ply of said conveyer is sufficiently below the level at which the fruit can be delivered from the conveyer 17 to permit the upper or carrying ply of the transverse conveyer 18 to pass above it, and it may be found convenient to locate the pulleys for the transverse conveyer from the discharge end of said trough into a transversely-extending trough, 23, in which a similar scraper-carryin conveyer-chain 24 operates to move the re se from all of the assembled a paratuses to a point of final discharge. (1 ot shown.)

The various conveying devices of this apparatus, it may be understood, are driven by any convenient arrangement of driving belts or chains passing around suitable pulleys on the shafts of the driving-pulleys or sprocketwheels of the different conveyers, and the specific means of thus driving the conveying elements of the apparatus need not be par-' ticularly described.

vIn view of the fact that the operators occupying the skinning-stands and having the fruit brought to them on the carrier'l use for their work in skinning the fruit a knife which is carried in the right hand and that they would most naturally and easily use the right hand to take the fruit from the conveyer to their respective fruit pockets, they would be liable to cause each other personal injury in reaching for the fruit with the hand carrying the knife if any two of them were in any instance liable to reach over the same portion of the conveyer for the fruit, and this liability would undoubtedly arise if the fruit-pockets of the skinningstands at the two sides of the conveyer were opposite each other. For this reason, as well as to avoid any other interference of the operators with each other which might delay the work, the fruit-pockets are preferably not located directly opposite each other on.

the two sides, but each fruit-pocket at one side is preferably opposite the cleaned-fruit receptacle of a stand on the other side; but, further, more effectually to guard against interference of the operators I prefer to pro vide means for setting apart separate portions of the conveyer to the stands atthe two sides thereof, and still more specifically setting apart to each stand a portion of the conveyer over which only one operator will in any event reach for supply of fruit. The means which I prefer to adopt for these purposes consists in arow of vertically-hinged gates orswitches 25, which are pivotally supported upon a bar 26, extending longitudinally over the conveyer midway in the width of the latter and at a sufficient distance above the upper surface of the upper ply thereof to allow the gates or switches 25 to swing under it, Each of these gates or doors is provided witha spring- 27, tending to hold it normally in a position extending longitudinally with respect to the conveyer the conveyer. The pivotlines of these gates in Fig. 2t. e., trending obliquely across the lane or portion of the conveyer from which the fruit-pocket in question is to be. suppliedso that as the conveyer travels the fruit will be deflected by the switch into the fruit-pocket toward which the switch is itself deflected. Each ope1ator is thus supplied by manipulation of a separate gate or switch'and without touching the fruit at all with the hand until it is in the fruit-pocket.

I claim 1. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising a primary conveyer for the fruit 3 a steaming-chamber through which the primary conveyer carries the fruit 3 a trimmingstand adjacent to the conveyer at the entering side of the steamer; a plurality of skinning-stands adjacent to the conveyer beyond the discharge side of the steamer, each such skinning-stand comprising a separate fruithopper and a refuse-hopper and two convey ers to which respectively all the fruit-hoppers and all the refuse-hoppers discharge.

2. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising a primary conveyer for-the fruit, a steaming-chamber through which the primary conveyer carries the fruit; a trimmingstand adjacent to the conveyer at the entering side of the steamer; a plurality of skinning-stands adjacent to the conveyer beyond the discharge side of the steamer, each such skinning stand comprising a fruit-measuring receptacle and a refuse-hopper and two conveyers to which respectively all the separate fruit-measuring receptacles and all the refusehoppers discharge.

3. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising a primary conveyer for the fruit, a steaming-chamber through which the primary conveyer carries the fruit; a trimmingstand adjacent to the conveyer at the enter ing side of the steamer; a plurality of skinning-stands adjacent to the conveyer beyond 'the discharge side of the steamer, each such skinning-stand comprising a separate trapbottomed fruit-hopper and a refuse-hopper and two conveyers to which respectively all said trap-bottomed hoppers and all the refuse-hoppers discharge.

4. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising a primary conveyer for the fruit;

a chamber through which the'conveyer carries the fruit, provided with means for treatlIC ing the same without handling; a trimmingstand adjacent to the conveyer at the entering side of such chamber; a plurality of skinning-stands adjacent to the conveyer beyond the discharge side of the chamber, each such stand. comprising a fruit receiver or pocket in position to receive the fruit from the conveyer;

a refuse-hopper h aving its receiving-mouth at the opposite side of the fruit-receiver from the conveyer, and areceptacle for the cleaned fruit laterally adjacent to the receiver alongside the conveyer.

5. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising a primary conveyer for the fruit; a chamber provided with means for treating the fruit without handling through which the conveyer carries the fruit; 2. trimming-stand adjacent to the conveyer at the entering side adjacent to the'conveyer at the entering side of sueh chamber; a plurality of skinningstands adjacent to the conveyer'beyond the discharge side of such chamber, each such skinning-stand comprising a fruit-hopper and a refuse-hopper; two conveyers to which respctively all the cleaned-fruit hoppers and all the refuse-hoppers discharge, and two other conveyers mounted for travel transversely to the last above-mentioned two conveyersat the delivery ends of the latter respectively in posltions for receiving the discharge from said respective conv'eyers,said transversely-traveb ing conveyers having their upper plies respectively traveling between the plies of the pri mary' conveyer.

7 In an apparatus for the'purpose indicated, which comprises a conveyer for the fruit and skinning-stands located in two rows,

one upon each side ofthe conveyer, each skinning-stand comprising a fruit receiver or pocket and a cleaned-fruit receptacle alongside the pocket, the cleaned-fruit receptacles of the stands at one side beingopposite the fruit-receivers ofthe stands at theoppos'ite side of the conveyer.

8. In an apparatus for-the purpose'indicated, in combination with a fruit-conveyer,

the skinning-stands arranged in two rows, one upon each side of the conveyer a series of vertically-pivoted switches or gates suspended above the conveyer and adapted to stand normally in line, constituting a longitudinal partition of the space above the conveyer,

each skinning-stand comprising a fruit recep tacle or pocket, said receptacles or pockets at one side being opposite the intervals between the receptacles or pockets at the other sid'eof the conveyer, and the said switches being located respectively one opposite each of said pockets.

9. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising, in combination with a conveyer for the fruit, a plurality of skinning-stands alongside the conveyer, each comprising a f fruit receiver or pocket adjacent to or lower than the carrying surface of the conveyer; a refuse-hopper having its mouth at the opposite side of the fruit-receiver from the con:

veyer and in position to receive the refuse from said conveyer, and afruit-receptaole laterally adjacent to the receiver alongside the conveyer. I V

10. An apparatus for the purpose indicated comprising a conveyer for the fruit; a plural ity of skinning-stands alongside the conveyer; each comprising a fruit receiver or pocket in position to receive the fruit from the con- Veyer a receptacle for the cleaned fruit adjacent to said fruit-receiver also alongside the conveyer; a refuse-hopper at the opposite side of the receiver from the conveyer, and two conveyers to -which respectively all the cleanedefruit receptacles and all the refusehoppers discharge.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set myhand, in the presence of two witnesses, at"

Chicago, Illinois, this 14th day of November, 1904.

i W. J. LATCHFQR'D.

In presence of FRED G. FISCHER,

J. S. ABBdTT. 

